Author: Lilian Callo

In November 2022, the Nursing VHL congregated two of its important governance committees: the International Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee of Brazil. The 2^nd Meeting of the International Advisory Committee, called XV Reunión de la Red Internacional de la BVS Enfermería, took place virtually on November 7, during the 17^th Coloquio Panamericano de Investigación en Enfermería, within the scope of the XV Reunión de Redes Internacionales de Enfermería, on the 6^th -7^th of that month, in Miami, Florida, in the United States.

The PAHO/WHO Knowledge Management (KM) area is part of the Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health (EIH), which also includes BIREME. Among its workstreams is the Digital Literacy activity, which promotes periodic training for staff in PAHO/WHO Offices and Centers in the context of the Research4Life Program (HINARI). BIREME has been participating in the training activity focused on the search for scientific and technical literature in the LILACS database.

November 14^th marks World Diabetes Day, celebrating the birth date of Sir Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin in 1922. The worldwide celebration is an opportunity to raise awareness about the impact of diabetes on people’s health and highlight the opportunities that exist to strengthen the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diabetes. BIREME provides relevant and updated information on diabetes for health professionals, researchers, and the population in general, as a way of contributing to the awareness and prevention of this disease.

Epidemiologist and researcher Dr. João Paulo Souza is the new director of BIREME/PAHO/WHO. The formal process of Transfer of Direction, according to the Organization’s methodology, took place on October 17 and 18, 2022, when Dr. Sebastián García Saisó – director of the Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health (EIH/PAHO) and interim director of BIREME since October 2021, transferred the Center to the new director.

Celebrating 120 years of solidarity in advancing the health and well-being of populations, leaving no one behind, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) actively participated in the 7th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR2022), held in Bogotá, Colombia, from October 31 to November 4. PAHO’s stand at the event was a space for the demonstration and dissemination of the main products developed by BIREME to support decision-makers in health, in addition to PAHO publications.

The Brazil Health Economics VHL, coordinated by the Department of Health Economics, Investments and Performance of the Ministry of Health, with the technical support of BIREME/PAHO/WHO, aims to collect, organize, index, publish, disseminate, and evaluate scientific and technical information in health economics in Brazil to support decision-making processes and ensure the dissemination of information to society.

BIREME and the Department of Health Systems and Services (HSS) of PAHO/WHO developed a system for the management and publication of indicators in pharmaceutical and health technology that aims to gather data on the health and pharmaceutical systems of the countries, generate evidence and inform stakeholders about the system’s performance, enable the identification of effective policies and programs, and promote the efficient allocation of resources.

The exhibition “Nanoarte”, which brings together more than 70 works produced from the capture of images of materials on a nanometric scale, in addition to an interactive panel available for visitors, made possible with the support of BIREME/PAHO/WHO, was inaugurated on September 19^th at the Ministry of Health’s Cultural Center in Brasília. The exhibition will be open until November 25^th to anyone interested in discovering what nanoart is and how to create it, as well as learning about the history of nanotechnology.

 

World Mental Health Day 2022 focuses on the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of populations around the world, an unprecedented event in recent history that, in addition to causing serious damage to physical health, impacted with equal – or greater – seriousness the mental health of people of all ages. PAHO has established the High-Level Commission on Mental Health and COVID-19 to support the Organization and its Member States in improving and strengthening mental health in the Americas, both during the pandemic and in the future.

Ministers of Health and other high-level representatives from countries and territories of the Americas gathered September 26-30 in Washington, D.C., United States for the 30^th Pan American Sanitary Conference of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) which was attended by the Director of PAHO, Dr. Carissa F. Etienne and the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. During the event, the new PAHO Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr., whose term begins on February 1, 2023.